We want to bid a fond farewell to Mr. Allen, our Oakland Tech Music Director.
After leading the Skyline Music Department, Mr. Allen arrived at Tech in 2016, and joined Ms. Jack as the second member of the music faculty. During his tenure at Oakland Tech, Mr. Allen has worked to rebuild the department. He has brought the Jazz department to the prestigious Monterey and Reno Jazz festivals in 2018 and 2019, and has brought home accolades from these venues (2nd place Reno, 2019). He has also worked to rebuild a full orchestra which this year boasted 30+ students. And, has joined Oakland Tech to the choirs renaissance that Oakland schools enjoyed this year, but were prematurely cut from performing due to COVID-19.
Mr. Allen is a prestigious composer and arranger and those skills have benefited the OT music department with new arrangements and compositions that his students were able to debut, including our latest addition Yes We Can Can arrangement for the virtual concert. He brought to the classroom his dry sense of humor and chill demeanor along with his years of experience; his ability to compose and provide arrangements for the most disparate and unconventional instrumentations. His persistent and unwavering dedication to music education, performance, and recording artistry have been his life’s work. He sought to connect and collaborate with fellow musicians within the district and outside of the educational environment fostering for the benefit of his students. This year, the choir collaboration between himself and Adam Green, director of Music at Skyline and a former alumni of Mr. Allen, and the OT and Skyline choirs.
We want to thank Mr. Allen for everything he has brought to Oakland Tech’s Music Department. For his efforts in rebuilding this program. We want to wish him a wonderful and well deserved retirement with plenty of health, travels and musical explorations or wherever his next endeavors will take him be they musical or otherwise.
Thank you Mr. Allen.